The Unexpected Reader
by AnotherGirlWithAStory
Summary: It had taken her many years but at the age of sixteen Hermione Granger believed that she knew what the difference between a book and a person was. She realised that the difference was that you could learn everything about a book if you only read it closely enough. People on the other hand, she quickly learned, seemed to constantly grow new layers that they could reveal at any time.


**Title** : The Unexpected Reader

 **Pairing** : Fred x Hermione

 **Characters** : Fred Weasley, Hermione Granger & Ginny Weasley.

 **Prompts** : Psychology- Write a story using one of the above personality types heavily on your character: Sanguine (loves reading and different kinds of knowledge, are creative and curious, can charm the pants off anyone, are lively, restless, cannot stand boredom routines or monotonous activities, is spontaneous and optimistic). Minimum 500 words, no maximum. Write about a character/s having a collection.

 **AN** : Written for the _Jurassic Fever_ [Challenge] held by whitetiger91 at The Golden Snitch Forum. Can be read as a part of _Our Mug_ & _I Promise._

 **Word Count** : 1, 617

* * *

It had taken her many years but at the age of sixteen Hermione Granger believed that she knew what the difference between a book and a person was. To most people, it was nothing but obvious what the difference was but in spite of being the cleverest which in her generation Hermione had trouble grasping the concept as a child. But at age sixteen she realised that the difference was that you could learn everything about a book if you only read it closely enough. People on the other hand, she quickly learned, seemed to constantly grow new layers of themselves which they could reveal at any time.

That knowledge didn't stop her from being surprised when she learned something new even about the people Hermione assumed she knew everything about.

A frown appeared on her face as she looked around the garden. Her boyfriend was nowhere to be seen. Hermione let out a grunt of disappointment as she pushed herself up from the place in the shadow that she and Ginny had opted for hiding in over playing quidditch in the aggravating heath. The redhead wasn't, like half an hour before, playing quidditch with Harry and the rest of his brothers. Hermione grunted again.

"Why do you sound like that?" Ginny mumbled from the ground where she was lying on her side just barely avoiding getting hit by the sun.

"I can't find your brother."

Ginny laughed. "Which one?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You know which one. Cheeky git."

Ginny rolled over to her back and shielded her eyes with her hand as she looked up at Hermione. "What do you want him for?"

"I want to…"

"No," Ginny shook her head. "I changed my mind. I don't want to know what you intend to do to my brother. He's probably inside reading one of the books from his collection. You should check his room."

Hermione scrunched her face together. "Reading?" she asked Ginny who had turned around again and closed her eyes.

"Yep," she replied and yawned. "He would never admit to it if someone asks but he loves to read to get the creative juices flowing and he also likes that the more he reads the more knowledge he gets about different things that may or may not be good to know for a prank or something."

Hermione hummed.

"Do you mind getting me some water on your way back?" Ginny mumbled sleepily. "I am parched."

Hermione smirked as she walked towards the Burrow. "Who said that I was coming back out again?"

"Hermione, I did not want to hear that!" she heard Ginny shout sounding disgusted and Hermione couldn't help but laugh.

The Burrow, as small as it was, never failed to feel like a second home. Hermione was aware of the fact that it wasn't her home but that didn't stop her from feeling a familiar warmth inside her chest every time she walked through the doors; and into the familiar mess of redheaded people trying to fit into a house that was not built for a family of nine.

On very few occasions Hermione found the house completely quiet. This was one of those times. Everyone, with the exception of Fred Weasley, were doing something outside. Hermione carefully walked up the stairs and took a left turn to get to the twins' room. She didn't bother knocking on the half open door and didn't have to in order to get the attention of the redheaded boy. The door had let out a squeak when Hermione pushed it open and Fred instantly glanced up from the pages of his book.

"So, you like to read." Hermione stated as she looked around the room only to have her eyes land on her boyfriend mere seconds later. "I can't say I saw that one coming. What are you reading?"

Fred lowered the book but not before folding the edge of the page. "We've been trying to make these pills can allow you to control your own dreams as a way of not having nightmares or if you just want to dream about something specific. But we haven't been able to find the right mixture yet. I was hoping that this book could give me some clues on what we're doing wrong."

He patted the spot on the bed next to him and gave Hermione a big smile as she joined him. Fred moved his arm to put it behind her back and Hermione leaned her head onto his shoulder. For a moment, they sat in comfortable silence.

"I can practically hear the wheels in your mind turning Mia." Fred commented with a laugh as he tilted his head to get a better view of her face. "What are you thinking about?"

Hermione shrugged. "Just that I didn't know this about you. It makes me wonder what else I don't know."

Fred's chest vibrated as he laughed. "I think you know more than you think. I like to think that I know more about you than you may think I do."

Hermione glanced up at him. "And what exactly do you think that you know about me Fred Weasley?"

"Well," Fred said scrunching his face together as he pretended to stroke a pretend beard. Hermione rolled her eyes "I know that you are always thinking about something. You are very brilliant and _very aware_ of that. You like to act like you don't need anyone when you've had a fight with Harry and Ron but the fact that you spend more time with me, George, Ginny and Hagrid shows that you prefer not being alone. You have a rigid idea of what's right and wrong; you'll do what you feel is best regardless of what people may think about it. You're the calmest when you're reading for the fun of it."

Hermione felt the blush rise over her face and once more Fred's body shook with laughter. "I didn't know you were so observant."

"I'm not." Fred replied with a shrug. "That reminds me… you think you're so good at hiding everything that makes you into _you_. But I'm sorry to say my love that you're rubbish at it."

Hermione laughed and jokingly hit his chest to which Fred only laughed. "That's it. I'm doing you."

"Oh yes, please do." Fred commented with a smirk.

Hermione hit him in the chest once more. Her face had turned into an even more violent shade of red. "That's not what I meant Fred Weasley and you know it. Scoot!"

Fred let out a loud laughter as Hermione moved from her place next to him and sat down in front of him with one leg on either side of his outstretched body. Hermione rested her hands on his hips and Fred interconnected his hands so that she could feel them against her lower back. There was barely any distance to keep them separated.

Fred gave her a mischievous grin. "I thought you weren't doing me." He whispered just loudly for Hermione to hear. A laugh escaped his parted lips as she rolled her eyes.

Fred's brown eyes and Hermione were like opposite sides of two magnets. She was drawn to them much like she had always been drawn to books. And much like the books she loved so much Hermione prided herself in being able to read into his eyes and learning more about the resident prankster. Having grown up in a house with seven children meant that you weren't always given the attention you needed and Hermione noticed that most often in moments like the one they were currently in.

Hermione could feel Fred tapping her fingers against her back and every now and again his eyes would glance down from hers as if the closeness and the eye contact became too much to handle.

"When I first met you, I thought that you were nothing but a redheaded immature prankster. And I wasn't wrong." Hermione smiled when Fred laughed. "But you need to be intelligent to pull of the pranks you do; you need to be creative. That you have found so many hidden corridors in school tells me that you're curious. You can see the good side of everything and you walk as if there too much energy inside of you. Not to mention that you can charm the pants off _literally anyone_."

Hermione cupped his face in her hands. She could feel a quiver go through his body as she closed the distance between them. In spite of the smile Hermione could clearly see the uncertainty in his eyes.

"You are restless, spontaneous and you are terrible at being bored and will do anything to avoid routines and monotone activities. Apparently, you collect books." Hermione felt a quiver of excitement go through her body. This was what made some humans better than books. They responded to her words with facial expressions, sounds, change in breathing and by touches. "I also know by the look in your eyes that you like this kind of attention but you don't know what to do with it."

Fred let out a shaky laugh. "You got all that from my eyes? You're very observant."

"Not really." Hermione said shaking her head to Fred's confusion. "Because even though I've known you since I was eleven years old, I still learn new things about you every day. You're not like one of my books whose mysteries will one day run out because I've solved them all."

"You're a strange bean." Fred laughed. "But thank you?"

Hermione rolled her eyes as she wrapped her arms around his neck and gently kissed his lips. "You're welcome." She kissed him again. "My unexpected reader."

 **The end**


End file.
